(The Center Square) – As the second week begins for the new legislative year, California lawmakers still aren’t sure what should top their priorities.
However, some legislators told The Center Square about key projects they hope to introduce during bills in 2026.
Multiple lawmakers want to advance legislation for housing, public transit and wildfire recovery.
Overshadowing legislators’ individual legislative priorities: California’s $18 billion budget deficit, first projected by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office in November. The deficit is the result of funding obligations to K-12 schools and community colleges and funding the state’s Budget Stabilization Account, often known as the “rainy day” fund, according to the governor’s proposed budget released on Friday.
“The only discussion we’ve had so far is on the budget, so I can’t speak to legislative priorities for the caucus as a whole,” Sen. Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks, told The Center Square on Monday. “The primary concern from an overall standpoint, No. 1, is we have this very unique situation of relatively strong and increasing revenues, and yet we have deficits. That just doesn’t happen.”
Niello added that in budget deficits, usually the economy is weak and revenues fall, resulting in a gap in the budget.
“This is not a strong economy, but certainly not a recession or a shrinking economy,” the longtime senator told The Center Square. “Yet we have increasing deficits. Frankly from my standpoint, that is alarming, and it is a big deal for the [Republican] caucus.”
Despite the state’s budget woes, some priorities have surfaced for individual lawmakers and their caucuses, legislators told The Center Square on Monday.
Rural health care, wildfire recovery, insurance reform and housing bills are some of the priorities, according to members of the Assembly and Senate and their staffs.
One bill introduced this year, Assembly Bill 1559, will crack down on aerial imaging of residential properties, said Mike Dayton, chief of staff for Assemblymember Lisa Calderon, D-City of Industry.
“We found some people lose property insurance, and they don’t feel like they’re notified by the insurance carrier in time,” Dayton told The Center Square. “So this really ensures there is a practice in place that consumers are notified in advance that there is going to be aerial imaging, and they have a chance to have more dialogue with the insurance company.”
Hazard mitigation spending on wildfire and earthquake recovery are also legislative priorities for Calderon, Dayton said.
Production of new housing, ensuring tenant protections and preserving existing housing are major policy priorities for other lawmakers who sit on housing-related committees, a lawmaker told The Center Square.
“On the production side, looking at how we can continue to address cost drivers that impact the cost of construction,” Sen. Jesse Arreguin, D-Oakland and chair of the Senate Housing Committee, told The Center Square. “No doubt that tariffs and the price of materials, labor and the time it takes to build housing are impacting economic feasibility and projects throughout California.”
Pushing for modular housing that help homes get built faster, financing workforce housing and incentivizing the construction of affordable new homes are top of mind, along with creating permanent housing for the state’s homeless population, Arreguin told The Center Square on Monday.
Bills on public transit, advancing homeownership and affordable housing construction are also policy priorities, Arreguin said.
In light of all these policy priorities, any bill that catches the attention of the governor stands the best chance of passing and getting signed into law, one lawmaker told The Center Square.
“Anything that makes sense that will expedite housing, any law that is written well, has a good chance of passing and is definitely going to get the attention of the governor,” new Senate Majority Whip Dave Cortese, D-San Jose, told The Center Square on Monday. “That means it has a good chance of getting signed by the governor.”
